Wow - that's a much more interesting article than the title would imply. I wonder if anything changed in Woodworth in response to the verdict (I doubt that it did, but still).
The article seemed to try to indicate that Parker's (outragrous) treatment was indicative of a more systemic problem, but I didn't think the argument held up very well.
So Woodworth collects a lot of revenue by enforcing the speed limits. Good for them. What is the connection to Parker's case? Is it just the implication that the town is too focussed on revenue-raising? That's pretty weak.
As is the implication of racism, really. This one incident seemed arbitrary, not targeted. Again, without evidence of a wider pattern this just seems like one (egregiously) bad case of motivated reasoning in a town that (charitably put) seems generally to be interested in upholding the law to the letter.
This is an issue that people are only recently getting a grip on. In isolation all these cases seem arbitrary and not targeted. And, absent any overt action, it can seem difficult to ascribe racism. Additionally the court system has made it very difficult to use "statistical" evidence in individual cases.
But, when one steps back and look at the statistics, an overwhelming number of practices by law enforcement are disproportionately applied to people of color. This includes "fishing trip" stops, "consent" pretext searches, as well as unequal application in the court system (bail practices, pressuring to plead guilty by "overcharging", and more).
